Matthew 17:20

Baby Bird is HERE!

She’s here! She’s here! She’s here! Sweet Baby Bird decided that December 8th was to be her birthday, so she finally arrived at 40 weeks and 2 days gestation!

All night prior I had menstrual like cramping, it was uncomfortable… but more annoying than anything else. I didn’t think anything of it because it didn’t feel anything like the beginnings of labor I had with Bubby. I tossed and turned, drank water, used the restroom… nothing helped so I just dealt with the cramping and tried to sleep. I had my 40 week appointment scheduled for 10:30am and thankfully, Janelle and I had planned ahead for her to tag along with her youngest two and my two children in case I DID go into labor. Seriously… we couldn’t have planned that any better.

The plan was for my midwife to strip my membranes if I was dilated enough so that we could hopefully kick start labor, otherwise if I didn’t go on my own I would have to be induced the following Friday (tomorrow)… and I DID NOT want that. I had to be induced with Boogie and I ended up with an epidural instead of the natural birth that I wanted. So, anyways, we made it to my appointment (and all morning I had continued having the menstrual cramping, it was slightly more painful though nothing I couldn’t handle… it truly wasn’t more painful than my real menstrual cramping is) and Janelle hung out with the kids in the car while I went in.

My BP was high, which is abnormal for me (and had only been high once before a few weeks prior), and they started me in the room with a NST since my midwife was running behind. I was starting to wonder now if my cramping was finally turning into something because the NST machine was picking them up as contractions, so I texted Janelle to let her know what I thought. A little later my midwife came in and she had the “look”. You know the “look”? The one that says that she doesn’t want to give you bad news, but it is bad news?

Basically what it came down to was that due to my elevated blood pressure at this particular appointment, and the appointment a few weeks prior, I was at high risk for preeclampsia and was officially diagnosed with gestational hypertension. Because of that she wanted to go ahead and send me to the hospital to be induced, HOWEVER, because I was already contracting she was willing to go ahead with our original plan first, to strip my membranes. Once that was done she said we could head back towards Janelle’s house to walk, eat, and then head to the hospital in the hopes I wouldn’t need any other methods to be induced.

At that point I wanted Janelle to hear all of this so that she could help me explain the details to Justin, not only did I think he would need her reassurance but I was kind of shocked that all of this was happening. Sweet Janelle… she was such a trooper, lol. She herded her two 4-year-olds, my 3 year-old and 2-year old into the office to be with me, thankfully all of our kids are pretty well behaved and were GREAT!

When my midwife went to strip my membranes my water broke… if you could have seen her face! I had been feeling some mild pressure that morning, so I’m thinking that maybe my bags were bulging and therefore broke when she began stripping my membranes! So of course, our plans changed again! If you remember Bubby’s birth story (you can read it here, and Boogie’s here) than you know that he came very quickly, so quickly in fact that we had about 4 back up plans in case we couldn’t make it to our choice hospital or if J couldn’t make it to be with me. (Not gonna lie, I had major anxiety over that!) Now that my water was broken we knew we didn’t have a LOT of time. I had already called J and by the time we were out of the appointment he was waiting in the waiting area for us. We decided that our best plan of action was for Janelle to take all of our kids back home with her, she’d have my mother in law meet her to get my kids and she’d make plans for her brood so that she could head back to the hospital to be with us. (She was our support person or “doula” if you will for Boogie and Bubby’s births…. as well as being their godmother). J and I needed to grab a bite to eat and then planned to head straight to the hospital, even if it meant just walking around the building until I was ready to go to labor and delivery.

By the time we made it from the midwife’s office to Chick Fil A my contractions had already increased in intensity and timing, and then by the time we made it from there to the hospital I knew we needed to head on up. I was hesitant because I didn’t want to go up too early, but then I was also worried that if we didn’t, we might have a baby in the parking deck… because really. Bubby came FAST.

We made it up to labor and delivery, I was still able to walk and talk through my contractions so I don’t think my nurse really thought I was serious about this going quickly like my last baby. She definitely wasn’t in a hurry to get things going. When my midwife had checked my cervix, prior to my waters breaking, I had been 5cm dilated. When the nurse checked me in labor and delivery I was only 6cm. I was shocked… I thought there was NO WAY I had only dilated 1 cm! This is when I started to become fearful, I was NOT trying to “birth without fear” anymore.

I told J that I may very well want an epidural this time, I was giving up on myself, I was fearful, my best friend hadn’t made it to the room yet… I was freaking out y’all! My nurse decided to go ahead and start my IV and take my blood for the tests they needed before giving an epidural, but to do so I had to lay down. Whomever thought it was a good idea to make a laboring woman lay on her back during contractions is an idiot. Seriously. Stupid stupid stupid. It makes your contractions even worse, you can’t rock or sway or do anything to get through them. It is pure torture. And while I really did love our nurse by the end of the afternoon, she didn’t do such a great job at trying to get my hep lock in… I ended up with a goose egg and a giant bruise from the two places on my right hand she tried to do, and then finally another nurse was able to get it in on my left hand. Once that was finally done I was able to get up again and BAM… pressure.

I asked the nurse to check me again, I may have begged her to do it quickly because my contractions only had a small bit of peace in between, and I was then at 7cm. In my mind I’m thinking… this is happening too slowly! But in reality, I was dilating VERY quickly, but I was in so much pain that I didn’t realize how quickly things were going. That was a major difference between Bubby and Bird’s birth. With Bubby there were NO breaks between contractions, it was incredibly intense, but not as painful as expected. This time there WAS a small bit of time between contractions, but I think because of those breaks it felt more painful than intense.

Just a few minutes after that, the pressure I was feeling increased and the anesthesiologist walks in with the paperwork for the epidural… I looked at him and said, “Um yea… we don’t need you anymore!” I think he was a little shocked, because not only was I saying “buh-bye” to him but I was pretty much naked at this point. Goodbye modesty! J hurried him out the door and I was BEGGING to be allowed in the shower. I WANTED that heat on my back, but J and the nurses were right in thinking it wasn’t a good idea. Not only were we very close to having a baby, but I was already sweltering from the heat. (I wonder if my BP contributed to that).

The only thing that helped me through my contractions was rocking my hips and swaying, occasionally I’d wrap my arms around J’s neck for support but generally it felt better to hold the side of the bed and bend my knees slightly while rocking. My body started feeling pushy and just like with Bubby, this is when I started to feel weak, shaky and like I might pass out from exhaustion. Birthing is a LOT of work. The OB and residents that were in the room (once again, there wasn’t a midwife available at the hospital) finally talked me into getting back on the bed with me on my knees hugging the back of the bed (exactly as I did with Bubby) and my body was pushing. I can’t really remember much at that point in regards to the people around me. I remember asking J to pray for me, and to pray out loud because Janelle still hadn’t made it to the room. I remember one OB or resident or nurse… I don’t even know… telling me to remind myself that I was ok (and I may have snapped at her that I KNEW I was ok). I also kept asking where Janelle was… and right before she came I said, “She’s going to miss it!” My body was pushing and I felt the “ring of fire”, I still don’t really think that’s an accurate name for it though. And I actually thought someone was pushing back on my cervix around her head, but apparently they weren’t… she was just coming out REALLY fast! I literally pushed for only 10 minutes and she was OUT.

I couldn’t believe she was already here! 10 minutes of pushing?! They asked if J wanted to cut the cord and I told him to go ahead, I wasn’t thinking obviously because we wanted to wait until the cord has finished pulsating… but I was kind of out of it and in a complete euphoric state. She was beautiful, she had a perfectly round head, big blue eyes, and the most precious cry… she’s perfect. I got to immediately hold her skin to skin and finally rest. I had done it… again. Despite the fear I had felt in the beginning, I did it. We arrived on the labor and delivery floor at 12:40ish and she arrived at 2:22pm. 7 pounds and 5 ounces of cuteness, 20.25 inches long!

Janelle walked in at right around 2:30pm, she JUST missed it! I hate that she wasn’t there, but I’m SO incredibly thankful that she was able to help care for my older two so that I was able to make it to the hospital in time. If we had to have taken the children to my mother in laws, we never would have made it and she would have been born in the car… yikes!

We are all madly in love, Boogie is the ultimate big sister… she calls herself the “little momma” and is constantly asking to hold and touch her baby sister. Bubby isn’t 100% sure about her, he definitely loves her and likes to touch her and sing to her… but he is having a harder time with the transition. He has been my baby all his life and he isn’t understanding that Baby Bird needs some of mommy’s undivided attention at times. He’ll get there though, and I know he’s going to be an outstanding big brother.

Baby Bird is a champion nursling, she HATES being swaddled and HATES lying in anything other than someone’s arms… and she LOVES being nudey! She is most definitely related to my Boogie and Bubby!

Thanks for reading! I’ll be posting some reviews and giveaways here and there for the next few weeks but personal posts will be slim pickings while I enjoy adjusting to life with 3 beautiful babies! God Bless!

About Me

Hi! I’m Sarah, I’m a Christian, a wife, a homeschooling momma to my four sweet babies and I am so happy you’re visiting Mustard Seed Mommy. I’ve been a blogger for many years, and I’ve written about a variety of topics but I’m hoping to start really focusing on homeschool topics and faith. Here you will find tips, tutorials, and suggestions for homeschooling and parentings and I hope that you will be blessed by what you read. You can read more about me and my family by heading to the top of this page and clicking the About Tab. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment on any post and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!